The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has robustly defended its decision to recruit nurses from Ghana, describing the move as a necessary intervention to address persistent staffing shortages and burnout within the country’s healthcare system.

Speaking at a news conference, the Minister of Health, Sir Molwyn Joseph, said the recruitment drive was aimed at easing the pressure on nurses who have been overstretched for years, warning that fatigue among healthcare workers posed risks to patient care.

“As you can appreciate, if you have nurses who are overworked or burnt out, then this compromises patient care.

"We now have an opportunity to fix this issue and I want to thank the permanent secretary and the technical team for the valuable input they gave to this exercise,” he said.

Sir Molwyn, flanked by senior officials of the ministry, noted that Antigua and Barbuda had long struggled to maintain adequate nursing numbers across its public health facilities.

He said public concerns about exhaustion and burnout among nurses had intensified in recent times, making the recruitment of health workers from Ghana a necessary step to confront what he described as a serious challenge in the sector.

The defence comes a week after the Gaston Browne administration announced plans to contract more than 100 nurses from Ghana, while maintaining that it had not formally ended its long-standing programme of recruiting healthcare professionals from Cuba.

The issue has drawn international attention amid renewed pressure from the United States on Caribbean countries to discontinue health cooperation with Cuba, with Washington stating that it “stands with those affected and continues to work for an end to the Cuban regime’s exploitative labour practices”.

In a statement issued after the weekly Cabinet meeting, the government confirmed that it was expecting the arrival of 120 nurses from Ghana over the weekend of January 23, 2026.

According to the statement, the nurses will be deployed mainly to the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, as well as to community health clinics and schools, with the aim of strengthening both hospital and community-based healthcare delivery.

Sir Molwyn told journalists that the recruitment was a deliberate policy choice to resolve a critical gap in the health system. He said he was confident that once the nurses were fully integrated, concerns about staffing levels and workload would be significantly reduced.

He explained that the healthcare system required about 400 nurses to adequately meet demand. At present, the system has 260 local nurses and 33 Cuban nurses, with the 120 Ghanaian nurses expected to arrive this month.

The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Ms Stacey Gregg-Paige, who led the delegation to Ghana to interview prospective recruits, said the process was carried out in close collaboration with the Government of Ghana and governed by a memorandum of understanding and a service agreement.

“Both instruments were comprehensively reviewed and vetted by the Ministry of Legal Affairs, confirmed to be consistent with Antigua and Barbuda’s legal, regulatory and policy framework, and formally accepted by the Government of Ghana.

"Accordingly, this initiative is lawful, transparent and structured, and operates fully within established public service, regulatory and immigration requirements,” she said.

Ms Gregg-Paige said the recruitment exercise took place in Accra between September 16 and 22 last year under the Ghana Labour Exchange Programme, in partnership with the Ministry of Special Initiatives at the Office of the President.

She explained that out of 190 applications received, 32 were rejected due to incomplete documentation or ineligibility.

The remaining 158 candidates were interviewed through a structured, competency-based process, with 127 selected as the most suitable and forwarded to the Antigua and Barbuda Nursing Council for vetting.

The Medical Director of the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, Dr Shivon Belle-Jarvis, said arrangements had been made for a three-week orientation programme to support the nurses’ integration into the system.

“It’s important to understand that anyone going into a system has to go through an onboarding process whether you are coming from within the local system or from abroad,” she said.